Re: There should be Robert Jordan references in NetHack, especially now that he's deceased.

David Damerell wrote:
> Quoting  Doug Freyburger  <dfreybur@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>:
> >Are there books of his I should start with?
>
> No.
>
> No, that's not a cheap shot answer. It's one of those endless hack
fantasy
> series that starts superficially interesting and turns into a bleeding
> ulcer as your desire to see how it ends fights with the utter tedium of
> the whole exercise.

Given that juvenile simplicity is endemic to the granddaddy
predecessor, Lord of the Rings, it should come as no surprise that
derivative works fail similarly on almost every level as serious or
interesting literature.

See Michael Moorcock's important and revealing essay, "Epic Pooh," for
a useful analysis of this obvious-but-overlooked phenomenon:
http://www.revolutionsf.com/article.html?id=953

As far as Jordan references in NetHack: if cultural impact is the key
factor for inclusion, Harry Potter ought to be far ahead of Bland
al'Bore & Co. in the queue.